Give credit to somebody: give recognition, praise, approval
The credit of this discovery will be given to you.
Reference: act of referring, a mention
You should make a reference to a dictionary.
The book is full of references to places that I know well.
You see credits given to people at the end of movies. You do not refer to the source there. Similarly, people are given credit for discoveries made by them. You do not refer to the source here either.
But when you make a reference, you actually are referring to the source (i.e., it's location).
So, in your case, you should "make a reference" and not "give credit".